Yankees 8, Royals 3: Alex Rodriguez busted out of a 14-game homerless drought with a pair of blasts and Curtis Granderson added another as host New York took the rubber game from Kansas City.

Andy Pettitte continued his comeback with seven-plus strong innings and Mark Teixeira scored twice for the Yankees.

Rodriguez has been the focus of some unflattering attention thanks to his struggles and came into Wednesday with a .404 slugging percentage - his lowest mark since a brief stint with the 1994 Seattle Mariners.

But Rodriguez, followed a walk by Teixeira by snapping a 52 at-bat homerless streak with a shot to left field. He went to left-center in the third, driving a 3-1 offering from Kansas City starter Will Smith just to the left of the batter’s eye.

Smith (0-1), who was making his major-league debut, lasted 3 1/3 innings and was charged with five runs on six hits while walking one and striking out a batter.

Making his third start of the season and 482nd of his career, Pettitte struck out eight and did not walk a batter. The 39-year old allowed seven hits and was charged with two runs, on solo homers by Billy Butler and Mitch Maier.

New York put it away with a three-run rally in the fifth, scoring without the benefit of an RBI hit on a pair of bases-loaded walks and an RBI fielder’s choice.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Yankees captain Derek Jeter went 3-for-5, bringing his career hit total to 3,152 to tie Paul Waner for 15th place on the all-time list. Kansas City legend George Brett is up next at 3,154. … Royals 1B Eric Hosmer went 3-for-4 with an RBI, lifting his average to .191. … Kansas City has dropped six of eight and begins a six-game road trip at AL East-leading Baltimore on Friday. … New York heads off on a nine-game road trip starting at Oakland on Friday.